Power

Some people came down from Judea teaching the family of believers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom we’ve received from Moses, you can’t be saved.” Paul and Barnabas took sides against these Judeans and argued strongly against their position. The church at Antioch appointed Paul, Barnabas, and several others from Antioch to go up to Jerusalem to set this question before the apostles and the elders. The church sent this delegation on their way. They traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, telling stories about the conversion of the Gentiles to everyone. Their reports thrilled the brothers and sisters. When they arrived in Jerusalem, the church, the apostles, and the elders all welcomed them. They gave a full report of what God had accomplished through their activity. Some believers from among the Pharisees stood up and claimed, “The Gentiles must be circumcised. They must be required to keep the Law from Moses.” The apostles and the elders gathered to consider this matter. After much debate, Peter stood and addressed them, “Fellow believers, you know that, early on, God chose me from among you as the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and come to believe. God, who knows people’s deepest thoughts and desires, confirmed this by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, but purified their deepest thoughts and desires through faith. Why then are you now challenging God by placing a burden on the shoulders of these disciples that neither we nor our ancestors could bear? On the contrary, we believe that we and they are saved in the same way, by the grace of the Lord Jesus.” The entire assembly fell quiet as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describe all the signs and wonders God did among the Gentiles through their activity. When Barnabas and Paul also fell silent, James responded, “Fellow believers, listen to me. Simon reported how, in his kindness, God came to the Gentiles in the first place, to raise up from them a people of God. The prophets’ words agree with this; as it is written, After this I will return, and I will rebuild David’s fallen tent; I will rebuild what has been torn down. I will restore it so that the rest of humanity will seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who belong to me. The Lord says this, the one who does these things known from earliest times. “Therefore, I conclude that we shouldn’t create problems for Gentiles who turn to God. Instead, we should write a letter, telling them to avoid the pollution associated with idols, sexual immorality, eating meat from strangled animals, and consuming blood. After all, Moses has been proclaimed in every city for a long time, and is read aloud every Sabbath in every synagogue.” (Acts 15:1-21, CEB)

Unless you follow these rules you are not part of the in crowd. It is like saying love the sinner hate the sin. It gives me a way of keeping you out and in a position of servant and still letting you think you belong. If you don’t follow the guidelines you are not included. And the guidelines are set up to keep the current power structure in place.

Even in religion, it is about power. Who can and who can not teach or lead. Who has the ability to be in leadership? Who can vote for issues in the gathered community?

God does not place these guidelines in place, they are put in place by the humans who are in power, most often men. And these guidelines must be kept at all costs because those in power can not lose their power. This is after all what really killed Jesus.

Look for the guidelines that seem to draw lines where God would erase them, and then work with God to erase them. That is where true love is.

Loving People. Loving God.

Comes out

Jesus called the crowd near and said to them, “Listen and understand. It’s not what goes into the mouth that contaminates a person in God’s sight. It’s what comes out of the mouth that contaminates the person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended by what you just said?” Jesus replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be pulled up. Leave the Pharisees alone. They are blind people who are guides to blind people. But if a blind person leads another blind person, they will both fall into a ditch.” Then Peter spoke up, “Explain this riddle to us.” Jesus said, “Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you know that everything that goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? But what goes out of the mouth comes from the heart. And that’s what contaminates a person in God’s sight. Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adultery, sexual sins, thefts, false testimonies, and insults. These contaminate a person in God’s sight. But eating without washing hands doesn’t contaminate in God’s sight.” From there, Jesus went to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from those territories came out and shouted, “Show me mercy, Son of David. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.” But he didn’t respond to her at all. His disciples came and urged him, “Send her away; she keeps shouting out after us.” Jesus replied, “I’ve been sent only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel.” But she knelt before him and said, “Lord, help me.” He replied, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and toss it to dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall off their masters’ table.” Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith. It will be just as you wish.” And right then her daughter was healed. (Matthew 15:10-28, CEB)

Food was prohibited because people were not cooking it correctly and getting sick and the easiest way to keep people from getting sick is to say that food is not permissible to eat. And here Jesus says that all food is ok to eat because it isn’t what goes into a person that defiles them, it is what is already inside them.

Out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murders, adultery, sexual sins, thefts, false testimonies, and insults. We think these things when we focus on ourselves. When we focus on others we see as God intended for us to see. And when we see with God’s eyes, we love like God loves.

Loving People. Loving God.

across

When they had crossed the lake, they landed at Gennesaret. When the people who lived in that place recognized him, they sent word throughout that whole region, and they brought to him everyone who was sick. Then they begged him that they might just touch the edge of his clothes. Everyone who touched him was cured. (Matthew 14:34-36, CEB)

Gennesaret is the place where the pigs are. The ones that got the demons.

When Jesus arrived the knew him, and they wanted to touch his robe because they knew if they did they would be healed.

Do we know that if we touch his robe we will be healed?

Do we have that faith?

Would we cross the lake to touch his robe?

Loving People. Loving God.

work

Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and won the crowds over. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing he was dead. When the disciples surrounded him, he got up and entered the city again. The following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. Paul and Barnabas proclaimed the good news to the people in Derbe and made many disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, where they strengthened the disciples and urged them to remain firm in the faith. They told them, “If we are to enter God’s kingdom, we must pass through many troubles.” They appointed elders for each church. With prayer and fasting, they committed these elders to the Lord, in whom they had placed their trust. After Paul and Barnabas traveled through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. They proclaimed the word in Perga, then went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been entrusted by God’s grace to the work they had now completed. On their arrival, they gathered the church together and reported everything that God had accomplished through their activity, and how God had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles. They stayed with the disciples a long time. (Acts 14:19-28, CEB)

Even though there is nothing we can do to earn God’s grace that doesn’t mean we can do nothing. Worst part of being a Lutheran. We are saved by grace, not by our own works, but we still have to do the works!

James the book Martin Luther didn’t like says, Faith without works is dead. We do not want dead faith. Be like Paul, who was stoned and drug out of the city presumed dead, but then got back up and went to work.

Our lives should be lived sharing the good news of Jesus in everything we do. We should live our lives in such a way that every action preaches the love of Christ.

Live Love out Loud.

Loving People. Loving God.

Justice

Then I saw another great and awe-inspiring sign in heaven. There were seven angels with seven plagues—and these are the last, for with them God’s anger is brought to an end. Then I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire. Those who gained victory over the beast, its image, and the number of its name were standing by the glass sea, holding harps from God. They sing the song of Moses, God’s servant, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and awe-inspiring are your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, king of the nations. Who won’t fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? You alone are holy. All nations will come and fall down in worship before you, for your acts of justice have been revealed.” (Revelation 15:1-4, CEB)

This talks about how all will bow before God and worship God because God’s justice has been revealed.

God alone is holy and worthy to be praised and when God’s justice is made known to all, we will all worship God. And when God’s Justice is revealed God’s anger will be at an end.

All will be right and the kingdom of God will be made known to all.

Loving People. Loving God.

With Jesus in the boat…

When Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. A huge storm arose on the lake so that waves were sloshing over the boat. But Jesus was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, rescue us! We’re going to drown!” He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you people of weak faith?” Then he got up and gave orders to the winds and the lake, and there was a great calm. The people were amazed and said, “What kind of person is this? Even the winds and the lake obey him!” (Matthew 8:23-27, CEB)

I remember a song from camp that went:

With Jesus in the boat, we can smile at the storm, smile at the storm, smile at the storm. With Jesus in the boat, we can smile through the storm as we go sailing home. Sailing, sailing home. Sailing, sailing home. With Jesus in the boat, we can smile through the storm as we go sailing home.

And the camp we went to did it as a remove a word and make a noise song, so they would take out smile, storm, boat, and finally Jesus. I had a theological issue with removing Jesus, but it was all in fun and a great learning for all.

We should all though really take that song to heart. If Jesus is in the boat why are we worried about what is happening around us? And if Jesus can sleep through the storm, shouldn’t that put us even more at ease?

Why are we so hung up on what we perceive verses what God can and will do in and through and all around us?

Love. And let God worry about the rest.

Loving People. Loving God.

Comforting?

So what are we going to say? Isn’t this unfair on God’s part? Absolutely not! He says to Moses, I’ll have mercy on whomever I choose to have mercy, and I’ll show compassion to whomever I choose to show compassion. So then, it doesn’t depend on a person’s desire or effort. It depends entirely on God, who shows mercy. Scripture says to Pharaoh, I have put you in this position for this very thing: so I can show my power in you and so that my name can be spread through the entire earth. So then, God has mercy on whomever he wants to, but he makes resistant whomever he wants to. So you are going to say to me, “Then why does he still blame people? Who has ever resisted his will?” You are only a human being. Who do you think you are to talk back to God? Does the clay say to the potter, “Why did you make me like this?” Doesn’t the potter have the power over the clay to make one pot for special purposes and another for garbage from the same lump of clay? What if God very patiently puts up with pots made for wrath that were designed for destruction, because he wanted to show his wrath and to make his power known? What if he did this to make the wealth of his glory known toward pots made for mercy, which he prepared in advance for glory? We are the ones God has called. We don’t come only from the Jews but we also come from the Gentiles. As it says also in Hosea, I will call “my people” those who aren’t my people, and the one who isn’t well loved, I will call “loved one.” And in the place where it was said to them, “You aren’t my people,” there they will be called “the living God’s children.” But Isaiah cries out for Israel, Though the number of Israel’s children will be like the sand of the sea, only a remaining part will be saved, because the Lord does what he says completely and quickly. As Isaiah prophesied, If the Lord of the heavenly forces had not left descendants for us, we would have been like Sodom, and we would have become like Gomorrah. (Romans 9:14-29, CEB)

Is this comforting? When I read it and the answer is this comforting, my answer is yes and no.

Yes, it is comforting because I do not have to worry about doing the right things to get in. It is God’s choice on who receives mercy and who doesn’t. And that is also not comforting, because what if I am like Pharoah and am one that doesn’t get mercy, but is used to show mercy to the rest of the world?

How do we know if we are in or out? Only God knows. So how do we live in the mean time?

By loving all. God loves us even when we are separated by our thinking only about ourselves, so we love others.

And we remember that God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and God’s time is not our time.

Loving People. Loving God.

What?

God didn’t spare the angels when they sinned but cast them into the lowest level of the underworld and committed them to chains of darkness, keeping them there until the judgment. And he didn’t spare the ancient world when he brought a flood on the world of ungodly people, even though he protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, along with seven others. God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to total destruction, reducing them to ashes as a warning to ungodly people. And he rescued righteous Lot, who was made miserable by the unrestrained immorality of unruly people. (While that righteous man lived among them he felt deep distress every day on account of the immoral actions he saw and heard.) These things show that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and how to keep the unrighteous for punishment on the Judgment Day. This is especially true for those who follow after the corrupt cravings of the sinful nature and defy the Lord’s authority. These reckless, brash people aren’t afraid to insult the glorious ones, (2 Peter 2:4-10, CEB)

Ok, I have to say that as I read this passage to write this devotion I was thinking, “make sure you stay in line because God knows how to punish you if you step out of line.” Now I know what the author meant was that God knows how to keep us from going to death, but it just highlights the things God did to those who got it wrong.

Paul told the Romans, we all fall short and none of us will get it right, so then aren’t all of us destined for the pit and damnation?

If we love as we are loved are we destined to be held apart from God for all eternity?

How will we know if we have done enough or followed the right things?

We won’t except just love.

Jesus said, Love God and Love Neighbor. Do that. Plain and simple.

Loving People. Loving God.

Hesitate

Right then, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead to the other side of the lake while he dismissed the crowds. When he sent them away, he went up onto a mountain by himself to pray. Evening came and he was alone. Meanwhile, the boat, fighting a strong headwind, was being battered by the waves and was already far away from land. Very early in the morning he came to his disciples, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” They were so frightened they screamed. Just then Jesus spoke to them, “Be encouraged! It’s me. Don’t be afraid.” Peter replied, “Lord, if it’s you, order me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus said, “Come.” Then Peter got out of the boat and was walking on the water toward Jesus. But when Peter saw the strong wind, he became frightened. As he began to sink, he shouted, “Lord, rescue me!” Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him, saying, “You man of weak faith! Why did you begin to have doubts?” When they got into the boat, the wind settled down. Then those in the boat worshipped Jesus and said, “You must be God’s Son!” (Matthew 14:22-33, CEB)

We all give Peter a hard time for sinking in the water, but would you have asked Jesus to call you out and step out of the boat?

If you want to walk on water, you have to step out of the boat. This is not a moment for hesitation. One of the best lines in a movie is from National Treasure, the Declaration of Independence was just stollen and the FBI is talking about it and on of the agents says, “Uhm.” To which the head agent says, “This is not a day for uhms.” The first agent says, “We got a tip last week that the Declaration was going to be stolen.” The head agent says, “What is the name of the tipster?” The first agent responds, “We don’t know the name a file wasn’t opened because we didn’t find the information credible.” The head agent says, “How about now?” We all hesitate in life. We get hung up on what we think we understand and what we believe and we let it taint our understandings.

But would you have stepped out of the boat?

We can do anything through Christ who gives us strength, and yes that verse is used out of context all the time, but if Jesus calls you out of the boat, if you remain focused you will walk on water. When we look at us instead of Jesus we falter.

Focus on Jesus, and love like he loves you.

Loving People. Loving God.

here’s your sign…

The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus. In order to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. But he replied, “At evening you say, ‘It will be nice weather because the sky is bright red.’ And in the morning you say, ‘There will be bad weather today because the sky is cloudy.’ You know how to make sense of the sky’s appearance. But you are unable to recognize the signs that point to what the time is. An evil and unfaithful generation searches for a sign. But it won’t receive any sign except Jonah’s sign.” Then he left them and went away. (Matthew 16:1-4, CEB)

Why do we always ask for a sign from God?

Why do we want God to prove themselves?

Can we not see the signs around us? We can tell the weather by the way things look. Red at night, sailors delight, red in the morning, sailors warning. We see signs all around us but always ask God to prove themself.

Do you need a sign from God?

If you do, why?

Loving People. Loving God.